“Haven’t seen a thing, and there were all sorts of reasons why, one is of course being whales,” Carwardine says. “They’re spending most of their lives underwater and out of sight so we could be going right by them and have no idea they’re there.”

Carwardine continues: “It’s quite exciting in one way, but very frustrating in another that you know they’re here, but you just jolly well can’t find them.”

Just then (29 seconds), as if on cue, a blue whale announces its presence with a noisy blow, off the vessel’s bow, leaving Carwardine beside himself and lost in the irony of the situation.

“Oh look,” he says, while laughing. “There is one. Actually that was a lot easier than I was expecting. There’s a whale right there. Talk of the devil.”

Blue whale sightings are never guaranteed, even in Monterey Bay, which Carwardine described as "one of the world’s great hot spots.”

Only about 2,000 of them utilize West Coast waters each summer and fall, roaming vast areas in search of shrimp-like krill.

But besides all the tuna and marlin breezing around offshore, dorado (mahimahi) are filtering in and adding to the region’s tropical flavor, with sporadic catches being made off Orange and San Diego counties.

The top image, captured by Slater Thomas Moore, shows a leaping mahimahi that was hooked off Newport Beach aboard the Thunderbird.

The photographer, who landed a 34-pound bluefin tuna while on the daylong trip, said the angler’s line had somehow been cut, but was grabbed by Jeffrey Markland.

As Markland pulled the fish ran, and when the line cut through the water and began to tighten, Moore anticipated the leap “and I snapped the photo of it jumping out of the water trying to spit the hook!”

The second image shows a much larger bull dorado (50 pounds), caught this past week aboard the Clemente out of Dana Wharf Sportfishing.

Water temperatures offshore are as high as 75 degrees in some areas. A developing "Godzilla El Niño," and remnants of last year’s “warm blob” phenomenon are reasons for the exotic visitors.

The lab is Sailor, whose owners, Kate and Jaycee Butler, said they have not experienced this type of intimate encounter in 40 years of whale watching in the Pacific Northwest.

The orca turning on her back to look at the people, and especially the dog, is K13, or Skagit, a female born in 1972 (an estimate), who travels with her four kids and two grand kids. (Skagit was identified for this story, based on her distinctive white eyepatch, by Melisa Pinnow of the Center for Whale Research.)

While Kate can be heard expressing her disbelief during the close encounter–"Are you flipping kidding me?!"–Sailor, who is vigorously wagging his tail, is speechless.

“He didn’t even bark throughout this whole encounter, and Sailor barks at just about everything,” Kate said. “He was so excited that when we got off the boat he peed for 10 minutes.”

There were dozens of Southern Resident killer whales in the area at the time.

The bottom three images accompanying this post, captured by James Gresham from aboard a much larger vessel, the Island Explorer 3, show the Butlers’ encounter from a different perspective.

Skagit's eye is above water as she swims to just a few feet from the vessel’s bow.

“The orca is looking at the dog and the people, there is no question,” said Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a killer whale researcher. “She is definitely checking them out.”

Aug 04, 2015

Sometimes, as a photographer armed with a long lens, you can find yourself a little too close to the action.

That appeared to be the case Saturday for Slater Thomas Moore, when a humpback whale suddenly emerged between two boats and slapped its tail.

Moore, who was aboard one of the boats, the Ocean Explorer out of Davey’s Locker in Newport Beach, was shooting with a 100- to 400-millimeter lens and was only 20 to 30 feet away.

Yet the photographer somehow managed to fit most of the tail-end of the whale in the frame, and also captured the reactions of those watching from the other boat, which was also 20 to 30 feet from the whale.

The result was one of the more unique whale images to have been captured this summer off Southern California, where humpback whales, blue whales, and fin whales have been providing plenty of shooting opportunities.

“We were watching it, and then it just threw its tail at the boat,” Moore said. “It was amazing.

Humpback whales are known for their curious behavior and will often approach whale-watching vessels. It’s not clear whether the tail-slap was a “You’re too close” warning, or merely playful behavior.

Moore captured several other photos of the same whale, including the accompanying breach shot, showing the OC coast in the background.